Mike's Minute: National took a credibility hit on roads

What's working for the Government at the moment is the economy.

The economy looks like it's coming right, in time to milk it all the way to the election.

So the Roads of National Significance reset is what you would loosely call a setback, if not a dead rat.

This country has become famous for talking big and doing little, for promising things that never happen.

As that reputation built up over many years and many Governments, you hoped we were slowly realising the futility of such behaviour and looking to bring it to an end.

Yet, no.

It's worse for National because they are the party of the economy. They are the party that gets elected historically after Labour cock it up.

They are the adults in the room.

So for Chris Bishop to tell us what they promised isn't happening the way they thought is a blow to the credibility.

Further, the admission that the promises were ambitious is not as big a problem as admitting the promises were driven largely by the construction industry wanting a pipeline of work.

That smacks of politics of convenience. It smacks of a party telling you what you want to hear.

For all the criticism of Labour and Let's Get Wellington Moving, or the light rail in Auckland debacle, National admitting they over promised is not a good look.

If you want the glass half-full, stuff is happening and things are being built.

But lets be honest; when they say five projects are in the "slow lane", the slow lane in this country is the "no lane" - they won't happen ever.

That’s before you get to the prospect of a Labour election win, which will lead to the old obsession with cycleways and bus lanes and so none of it will ever come to pass.

Government is about delivery. Elections are about choosing your path of choice and after that it's delivery. Labour are famous for lack of it.

With National on roads it turns out they're not as bad, but they're not what they said they were on the tin.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's working for the government at the moment, broadly speaking,
is the economy. Of course, the unmanufacturing numbers are very
good example of that. This morning, the economy looks like
it's coming right in time to milk it all the
way to the election. So the roads of significance, that
reset is what you would loosely call a setback of
not a dead rat. Now, this country has become famous
for talking big and doing little, for promising things that
never happen. And as that reputation built up over many

(00:22):
years and many governments, you hope we were slowly upon
realizing the futility of such behavior, actually looking to bring
it to an end. And yet no, it's worse for
National because they are the party of the economy. They
are the party that gets elected historically speaking after Labour
cock it all up. They're the adults in the room.
So for Chris Bishop to tell us what they promised

(00:42):
isn't happening the way they thought it would is a
blow to the credibility. Further, the admission that the promises
were ambitious is not as big a problem as admitting
the promises were driven largely, he said, by the construction industry.
Wanting a pipeline of work. Now that smacks of politics
of convenience. In other words, smacks of a party telling
you what you want to hear. For all the criticism

(01:02):
of Labor and get Wellington moving or the light rail
in Auckland, debarkle, all that nonsense. National admitting they over
promised is not a good look. Glass half full, I suppose.
I mean stuff is happening, things are being built, but
let's be honest when they say five project are in
the slow lane. The slow lane in this country is
the no lane. The slow slow lane's the no lane.

(01:25):
They won't ever happen. And that's before you get to
the prospect of a Labor election win, which will lead
to the old obsession with cycleways and bus lane so
none of it will ever come to pass. Government is
about delivery, right, Elections are about choosing your path of choice.
After that, it's delivery. Labor are famous for lack of it.
National on roads turns out not as bad, but they're

(01:46):
not what they said they were. On the ten. For
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